IMPORTANT UPDATE -WRITE TODAY!  ONCE DEVELOPED, NEVER THE SAME!
​
Write By October 31st to the Ontario Land Tribunal as they have extended the deadline for participant statements from concerned residents until November 1st, 2021 to be considered at the January 21, 2022 Second Case Conference.  Now you can write directly to the OLT to have your views heard. The tribunal member will consider your participant statement but you do not speak at the Case Conference unless you have Party Status.

1. CLICK and Download the Participation Statement HERE
2. Enter Case Number PL210241 and 2022/01/21 for Date of Case Management Hearing.
3. Fill in the participant statement and write your statement and then save the file.
4. Before October 31 email file attachment to: 

You must address Email to: 
Azeem.patel3@ontario.ca 
Then Highlight, cut and paste emails below and Copy to:  
counsel@haroldelston.com, jamie.clow@muskoka.on.ca, david@donnellylaw.ca,
QAnnibale@loonix.com, info@bracebridgewetlands.caOu

Save, attach your Participant Statement and you must email the document by October 31st to Azeem, the Case Coordinator and c.c. the parties above representing the Town of Bracebridge, The District of Muskoka, South Bracebridge Environmental Protection Group Inc, and the Applicant.  

HERE ARE SOME TALKING POINTS BUT FEEL FREE TO VOICE YOUR OWN PERSONAL CONCERNS

Points you may want to discuss in your participation statement or maybe you have other concerns:

Without knowing the boundaries, structures and connections in Henry Marsh and the surrounding Beaumont wetland complex, how can the environment be protected?

Without mapping and knowing the habitat and patterns of the endangered and threatened species, (like the Blanding's Turtle), how will they be protected?

Without even thinking about the impact of thousands of students on this ecologically sensitive land, in addition to the buildings, roads, and parking lots of this oversized project, are our town leaders being good stewards of the land?

Has the Town of Bracebridge and District of Muskoka councillors really honoured their own Environmental Protection Policy?: The Official Plan identifies the following, of which they are in Breach of all their own policies:
A6.5.1, “the health and integrity of the natural environment, which is one of the Town’s most valuable resources, will be protected.”

A7.4.1.1 “a goal of the Plan to protect and enhance significant natural environmental features and ecological functions, including the quality of water in the Town”

A7.4.2.1, it is “an objective of the Plan to preserve wetlands and protect adjacent lands to maintain the ecological function of the wetland, where appropriate”

Section A7.4.2.3, “it is an objective of the Plan to protect and maintain significant wildlife habitat, including habitat of threatened and endangered species”

EA7.3.2.3: To “encourage the protection of the Town’s natural attributes, such as its rural character, water quality of its lakes and rivers as well as other natural environmental features in order to ensure that the recreational and tourism uses that rely upon these attributes continue to thrive.

Despite claims of environmental protections, the road through the school (labeled Highway 118 bypass) goes right over the “protected” areas because it was approved many years ago - before our current environmental standards were in place. Don't approve this, improve this.

Is this the start of another battle to stop the 118 Highway Bypass, after it was approved but then shelved over residents’ protests years ago?

Are elected leaders being good stewards of the quality of life in Bracebridge when they don’t ask about the effects on public services? The school and summer camp have no water access and, as suggested by the Muskoka Royale College (MRC) website, 1800 students will be using local beaches that are already overcrowded. How will this increased population affect Emergency Services such as fire, police and ambulance? Who will pay for it?

How will noise and light affect species and their habitat and the serenity of the lakefront that we all cherish, especially when considering the MRC’S intention to host sporting events with other schools during the year and a camp in the summer?

How will traffic from the school and summer camp impact the town and local neighborhood rural and shoreline roads? Why hasn’t the town challenged the job creation claims of the developer? Experts have said that the claims aren’t realistic. Dewey Institute is failing and Nipissing University pulled out of Bracebridge. Georgian College is not a boarding school, and MRC tries to compare itself to this.

Study requests you may want to discuss:
An Ontario Wetland Evaluation System Study (OWES) - to evaluate and determine the significance of wetlands based on science according to Ontario's Provincial Policy Statement (PPS), issued under the authority of the Planning Act. An Economic Impact Study - how this will affect our infrastructure and economy.
A Viability Study - can this business survive as experts have said it can’t.
A Character And Compatibility Study - do the structures suit the Muskoka Landscape and area.
An Impact Study On Social Services - with the increase of 2,000 people to the community, how will this be financed and how will access to our services be affected.

​THANK YOU FOR YOUR CONTINUED SUPPORT IN PROTECTING MUSKOKA NATURAL HERITAGE. B

Bracebridge's wetlands 

NATURAL SOLUTION, FIRST LINE OF PROTECTION AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE

The importance of wetlands is often overlooked.
Wetlands help to:
  • Control flooding
  • Provide habitat for wildlife
  • Act as a pollution filter protecting our water quality 
  • Absorb carbon to help us fight climate change

Threatened by development

ONTARIO WETLANDS EVALUATION NEEDED

The wetlands of South Bracebridge are currently threatened by a proposed development. This land is suspected to be a provincially significant and complex wetland, but has never been evaluated in order to receive this official classification. 

You asked the Town of Bracebridge to require an Ontario Wetlands Evaluation to determine if the subject wetlands should be protected as significant wetlands.  They denied this request.

​We can't put wetlands back after they have been destroyed. Let's take the time to do this right. 
​"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has."
Margaret Mead